Doesn’t this concept seem odd? I’ve always knows people riding bikes as having to follow the regular “code de la route“. Which meant, among other things: riding only one way on one-way streets and no riding on sidewalks. This could be very frustrating for those rinding on bicyles as it would mean a number of detours instead of taking the shortest route. (Not all were deterred though and I’ve often seen both people riding their bycicle in the wrong way on one-way streets and people riding their bycicle on the sidewalk… Some even assuming they should have priority on the pedestrians!)

Anyhow, it seems that, in order to favor bycicle use in Paris, one-way streets will become two-way by bicycles, thanks to an extra bicycle lane! All the info can be found here, where there is even an animation to illustrate how cars and bicycles will be moving along with these new paths. I’m sligthly worried about people not thinking to check BOTH WAYS before crossing such streets… But apparently, these lanes have already been in place in a few areas and things have been going well, with cars riding more slowly for example.

By the end of this year, almost all one-way streets where speed is limited to 30 kph should be equiped with the extra bicycle lane. I feel this could make quite a change for those using bicycles and encourage some who didn’t use bicycles before…